Materials Down as Wheat, Metals Futures Retreat -- Materials Roundup

Producers of metals and other raw materials fell slightly as a spike in agricultural and metals futures eased.

Wheat futures, among the commodity contracts most sensitive to shifts in the course of the war in Ukraine, fell sharply, suggesting optimism among traders that peace talks would eventually bear fruit.

Gold and copper futures also retreated. Rio Tinto offered to pay roughly $2.7 billion to buy out minority shareholders in Canada's Turquoise Hill Resources, which controls a giant copper-mining operation in Mongolia, as the Anglo-Australian miner bet that much of the recent surge in metals prices will stick.

The sudden surge in nickel prices, which resulted in suspended trading of the battery component on the London Metal Exchange last week, has jeopardized an Australian mining deal. IGO, an Australian base metals producer, had planned to buy nickel miner Western Areas for around $800 million, but warned that the deal may now be delayed because of the turmoil in nickel markets.

 Write to Rob Curran at [e-mail] 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-14-22 1646ET